other
before tonight, probably about ten days or more ago? My friend Merton
Anderson and I chanced to be spending the night at San Juan Capistrano
when you and your friends rode into the old mission town. You don't know
how much curiosity your appearance excited. You gave the old town the
greatest thrill it has had in a long time. You see the little town is
more than half foreign; there are Spaniards and Mexicans and half-breed
Indians. You were dressed in a kind of compromise Indian costume, and
down there we had never seen or heard of the Camp Fire. Merton and I hid
ourselves on one of the verandas and sang a duet for your benefit. Then
later, when it was too dark for us to see one another distinctly, we
followed your party about the mission grounds."

Gerry frowned and then blushed a little from embarrassment.

"Were you wearing Mexican costumes? I confess Sally and I did become
interested in you, but we supposed of course that you were either
Mexicans or Spaniards. Your song was in Spanish so that we could not
understand it."

"Shall I sing to you in Spanish now?" Felipe returned. "I speak the
language as readily as I do English. You see my mother was of Spanish
origin and she and an old nurse who lives near here always spoke in
Spanish to me when I was a kid. You were right about the Mexican
costumes. Anderson and I had been over into Mexico for a few days and
were on our way home. I like to escape over there now and then when
life at the ranch becomes too slow. I can be mistaken for a Mexican when
I wish and it is sometimes amusing."

Gerry nodded, preferring to have Felipe talk to her rather than to offer
him confidences. Oddly she was wishing tonight that she had read as many
books as the other Camp Fire girls and had enjoyed the same advantages.

"Then you saw all seven of us at Capistrano?" she asked at length;
adding, "There are five other girls in our Camp Fire group."

Felipe laughed. "Yes, I saw all of you, yet it was you alone I
remembered," he murmured with true Spanish gallantry.

"Thank you for that compliment, although obviously I fished for it,"
Gerry returned, smiling. "But won't you tell me, now that the draft has
been ordered and your number called, how are you going to manage to
escape? Of course I shall not speak to any one else of what you tell
me."

"I am glad enough to tell you," Felipe Morris continued boyishly. "You
can't imagine how hard it has been to have no one to sympathize w